The OEM car manufactures all use top line paints such as DuPont, PPG, Glasurit and such. I do not know of any that use off name paints. IMO there are very few to none factory paint jobs that compare to a properly prepped, spray'd and compounded non OEM finish. The car manufactures are interested in building cars as fast as they can which results in lots of orange peel.

If you see a year old car with the original paint peeling, it was built in a California assembly plant. The tree huggers in that state only permit the use of water bases paints.

It has little to do with tree huggers. The failures that have happen with OEM paint was across the board from all over the US and other countries. It was largely to do with application and little to do with products, as usual.

It has little to do with tree huggers. The failures that have happen with OEM paint was across the board from all over the US and other countries. It was largely to do with application and little to do with products, as usual.

Brian

You would think they would have the process down by now as far as peeling, etc. Sounds like they're using the public for they're R & D work. What is the life span of a decent paint job, 10 years or so?

When properly done about ten years is about it for most normal rigs..some of the ones who live in a garage when not on the road will last longer..and it also has a lot to do with environment the car lives in as well..

Sam

__________________
I have tried most all of it and now do what is known to work..

Quality wise, there is not really any difference, the difference is in the application and set up of the product.

Ecoat-epoxy, waterborne base at most plants now and then the clear, the clear will be same as a jobber sells of that brand but they do a few things different.

First, robots don't get into mixing paint, so they will use a "blocked ISO" in the clear, in other words the clear will only harden once it reaches a certain temp in baking, most are set for 400-450 at 60 minutes to cure out and can be as high as 500.

The other thing they do is vary mixtures of UV additive, where a normal clear may have 2, they will use a mixture of three or four, so the clear can be applied thinner and not need the "2 mil" net rule (in theory).

Well then, here's my question related somewhat to the subject. G.M. paint jobs generally are the worse I see, mucho orange peel, while a Lexus, some BMW's, have little or none, Are these cars buffed or is it just a better process? Some of the G.M. trucks I see make me shudder, the orange peel is horrible.

__________________
"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not." - Mark Twain

Some of the G.M. trucks I see make me shudder, the orange peel is horrible.

Take a look at at a new Vette, it's a shame to pay that much for a car then have to wet sand and buff it. When we toured the Vette factory in Bowling Green after it was over we were asked what we thought.....they should not have asked. I pointed out the orange peel in the clear and several other people chimed in about it. The rep said they were aware of it and were taking steps to improve it.....that was five years ago.

I have a late model Ford Ranger that's painted black. As we all know,
only the best bodies are painted black and the paint robots are 'tuned'
perfectly to spray the black, since that color shows every defect.

The Ranger has a show quality black finish from the factory, however
it's very thin. If a fly lands on the hood, it'll scratch the finish.

Do keep in mind, the question was "quality of paint used" don't confuse with piss poor application.

Back about 14-18 years ago Ford got some concession to ship the Taurus to Japan to sell. At the plant here in Atlanta the hired a bunch people and paid millions for a special lighted area, so any car going to Japan could be wet sanded and buffed like a show job.

Lexis, the robots spray the clear and then it is wet sanded and sent through again.

The Ranger has a show quality black finish from the factory, however
it's very thin. If a fly lands on the hood, it'll scratch the finish.

I sure wish my '06 BLACK F350 had a better paint job (tho it IS better then most GM pick ups) and it isn't too thin. If my '31 had that much orange peel I would repaint it immediately. My wife's Escape - it has nice a paint job.

The whole issue with a factory paint job is lack of material used, it is so thin, the first time someone takes a buffer to it, from then on you are on borrowed time as the the clear is just not thick enough to last.

Easy fix but to costly, I remember a few years back doing some work at the Saturn plant and they had a bonus program, come up with a savings of $2 dollars a car and you could get up to either $25,000 or 50,000 dollars, don't really remember but now think about adding another $50 of clear to a car, no way!

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